RIYADH/WASHINGTON : When Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a deal this week to merge with North America's top body in charge of professional golf, it signaled for some the completion of a U.S.-aided rehabilitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, five years after the murder of journalist Jam
The deal - a three-way merger of U.S.-based PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the rival PIF-backed LIV circuit - was announced just as Washington's top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in the kingdom.
Concluding his visit on Thursday, Secretary of State Blinken told reporters he raised human rights issues with Saudi officials and"made clear that progress on human rights strengthens our relationship." "To me, the biggest takeaway is the PGA would have never done this if Biden hadn't have gone to Jeddah and rehabilitated MbS," said Seth Binder, director of advocacy at the Project on Middle East Democracy.
The official said the U.S. had made significant progress with Saudi Arabia on a range of issues since Biden's visit, including a truce in the war in Yemen. The benefits of that truce, which expired in October, remain in place"thanks to quiet, persistent, very effective diplomacy, not by being loud and beating a drum," the official said.
In response to a question about the kingdom's human rights record, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters:"We are always open to having a dialogue with our friends, but we don’t respond to pressure. When we do anything, we do it in our own interests." HRW's Washington Director Sarah Yager said with the U.S."courting" Saudi Arabia aggressively, Riyadh is getting the cooperation with the United States that it wants without having to make human rights reforms.
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